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Seeing the world
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE HERNANDO -- Free cookies are always popular with elementary age children. Add dolls, spears, costumes, music, and cool stuff like lederhosen and a Chinese opera mask, and you have an extravaganza. As part of the school's effort to celebrate diversity, Forest Ridge Elementary School, under the direction of guidance counselor Donnie Brown, invited community members to bring their personal or their organizations' cultural materials to school to display for the children and their families. The response was a Multicultural Extravaganza, sponsored by the Crystal River Civitan Club. The children had passports that were stamped at each culture, and their tours began at Appalachia, where Tim Stuart, a media specialist visiting from Rock Crusher Elementary School, and Rich Hilgert, visiting from the Family Action Center, were playing instruments including Stuart's Appalachian dulcimer. The next country was Germany, represented by Citrus County German Club president Snyder Donahoo and past president Martin Grum. They had books, maps, a mood clock and old and contemporary clothes, including two pairs of lederhosen, shorts and suspenders worn by boys and men. "My favorite was Germany," said Alexis Weldon, 8, a third-grader. "When you looked how they dressed, it was leather and they had a lot of toys that we don't have now because they were really old toys." At the next stop the children saw more colorful costumes, this time from Poland. Polish/American Club president Mary Lou Warhol and Citrus County Polish Heritage Club president Pat Budzeleski and vice president Florence Demcovitz had brought a Polish eagle, dishes, polished and raw amber, a sample from the salt mine in Wieliczka and a colorful cutout rooster that appeared to be made out of thin strips of wood. "They do a lot of the cutout work," said Budzeleski. "It's called wycinanki." Daniel Born, a 7-year-old first-grader, was particularly impressed with the Polish display. "They put the hat on me," he said. The Chinese exhibit was put together by Sheila Chau, whose husband formerly owned the Fortuner Restaurant. She had a Chinese opera mask, a tea pot set, a Buddhist sundial, a kite and two pieces of bamboo, twisted for good luck. Eighth-grader Erik Beauregard seemed awed by the richness of the Chinese display, including a selection of items that can be burned at a funeral, which is believed to assure that the deceased is prepared for reincarnation. Chau had brought a pile of imitation money that can be used for that purpose. Erik said he liked the exhibit "because it had $5,000 bills, thousands of them! They also had a lot of gold to spend on things they needed." The Philippines exhibit was provided by the Philippine-American Corporation of Florida. The members who volunteered included vice president/treasurer Beverly Dulce. They had cookbooks, a fan, hemp abaca slippers and dazzling orchids. Kathleen Hoey and Ron Davis from the American Irish Club displayed a statue of St. Patrick, a doll in traditional clothes, Coats of Arms, an afghan with an Irish blessing on it, Irish Waterford crystal, maps and photos. The East Indian exhibit was provided by the Citrus Indo-American Association. The display included wood carvings, silver boxes, a brass plate of the sun, a copper rendering of Natraj, the god of classical dance, and brilliant fabrics laced with metallic threads. Club members Sheila Gandhi, Priti Patel, Ritu Sanon and Veena Ram were dressed in traditional clothes and delighted any interested child or passing adult by giving each a bindi, the dot on an Indian woman's forehead. Third-grader Brittany Lord, 9, was impressed with that. "I liked the one where you got the dot stuff," she said. Past India, the Italian Social Club of Citrus County was busy passing out golden crisp wanda to the children. With the organization's banner behind them, recording secretary Phyllis Dezenzo and Elvira Macyowsky handed out the fried pastries rolled in powdered sugar. Member Michael Roseto and honorary member Marie Roseto were also on hand. First-grader Rosie Savaglio, 7, liked the Italian display, she said, "because I'm Italian and I like seeing Italian things because I've never seen them before." The Spanish display represented a host of countries and was a result of the efforts of several parents of students at Forest Ridge. There were cultural examples from Venezuela, Honduras, Chili, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Bolivia and Costa Rica. The children played with a rain stick and saw pottery, instruments and flags. There were a couple trays covered with interesting, unusual foods, such as yucca papaya and carambola. This was the favorite stop for Melanie Negron, 9, a third-grader, "because of the instruments they had. It was wood and it has rice in it and you tipped it over and it sounded like rain," she said. The American Indian attraction for the children was the drum they were allowed to pound. Collector Susan Davis had brought weavings, carvings, arrowheads and a honeysuckle vine storage basket made by Cherokee Indians. The South African display had an ostrich egg with elephants delicately etched into it. There was a doll in native clothes and a carved elephant. Chris Prince, who had lived in South Africa for four years, also brought animal-shaped cookies. Hers was a popular country. Caylee Decleene, 6, a first-grader, said she liked South Africa because it was "the one with the cookies, because it has stickers and stamps." Third-grader Austin Crew, 9, looked beyond the cookies and said, "I liked how they made spears and speared their food in South Africa to survive. The final stop was Africa, where a Forest Ridge volunteer showed children a double spear, bright fabric, African dresses, books, maps and photos. There were two lessons to be learned from the extravaganza, Brown explained: to celebrate the diversity in the community, but also to realize that "we are more alike than different."
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